Real-time product delivery during customer-driven point of sale retail transactions

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an approach is provided in which a product request is received that corresponds to a point-of-sale (POS) device, which is located at a merchant facility. In addition to identifying a product location corresponding to the product, an employee location of an employee in proximity to the product location is also identified. In turn, an electronic message is sent to the employee&#39;s mobile device that includes a request to transport the product from the product location to the POS device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/107,870, filed May 13, 2011. The aforementioned relatedpatent application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to real-time product delivery duringcustomer-driven point of sale transactions. More specifically, thepresent disclosure relates to fulfilling product requests in real-timethat are in response to a recent product purchase.

Traditional point of sale interactions deal with a customer collectingproduct at a merchant facility, and then taking the collected productsto a merchant's point-of-sale (POS) device, which are scanned andpurchased. These POS devices may be, for example, self-service checkoutcounters or employee attended checkout counters. Some products maycorrespond with other, additional products, such as batteries for a newtoy.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, an approach isprovided in which a product request is received that corresponds to apoint-of-sale (POS) device, which is located at a merchant facility. Inaddition to identifying a product location corresponding to the product,an employee location of an employee in proximity to the product locationis also identified. In turn, an electronic message is sent to theemployee's mobile device that includes a request to transport theproduct from the product location to the POS device.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present disclosure,as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in thenon-limiting detailed description set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a real-time product delivery managementsystem (RPDMS) sending product transport requests to employees tofulfill a product request initiated by a user;

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing an employee transporting multiple productsto POS devices based upon the employee's location relative to the POSdevices (transport direction);

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an employee transporting multiple productsto POS devices based upon a retrieval perimeter that corresponds to theemployee's location;

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a customer facing display that displays aninquiry to a customer (user) regarding an additional product topurchase;

FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a customer facing display that displays aninquiry to a customer (user), along with an estimate delivery time,regarding an additional product to purchase;

FIG. 3C is a diagram showing an employee's mobile device display thatdisplays transport requests for the employee to fulfill;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing steps taken in identifying an additionalsale opportunity and, once confirmed, sending an electronic message toan employee to retrieve the identified product and deliver the productto a point-of-sale device;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing steps taken in including transportrequests into electronic messages and sending the electronic messages toemployees to transport the additional product to one or more POSdevices;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing steps taken in estimating a delivery timefor an employee to transport a product from a corresponding productlocation to a POS device;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken in generating and analyzingproduct transport metrics;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a data processing system in which themethods described herein can be implemented; and

FIG. 9 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 8 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems which operate in a networked environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the disclosure and the practical application, and toenable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosurefor various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The following detailed description will generally follow the summary ofthe disclosure, as set forth above, further explaining and expanding thedefinitions of the various aspects and embodiments of the disclosure asnecessary.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a real-time product delivery managementsystem (RPDMS) sending product transport requests to employees tofulfill a product request initiated by a user. POS Device 120 (e.g.,self-service checkout station) and RPDMS 110 provide a point-of-servicethat allows customers to play an active role in the checkout process.This includes the ability to offer customers the ability to purchaseadditional products during checkout (e.g., “cross-sell” or “up-sell”opportunities). In one embodiment, the additional products are itemsthat are in some way related to an item purchased, such as batteries fora toy.

FIG. 1 shows merchant facility 100, which may be a location thatcustomers (user 115) purchases products, such as a grocery store, drugstore, electronics store, etc.

Merchant facility 100 includes real-time product delivery managementsystem 110 and point-of-sale (POS) device 120. POS device 120, in oneembodiment, may be a self-checkout station for which user 115 utilizesto purchase products (groceries, electronic merchandise, etc.). As user115 purchases products, such as by scanning products at POS device 120,POS device 120 (or real-time delivery system 110) identifies additionalproducts that correspond to user 115′s purchased products. For example,user 115 may purchase a toy that requires four AAA batteries. In thisexample, POS device 120 identifies the four AAA batteries as anadditional product that user 115 may wish to purchase.

POS device 120 queries user 115 as to whether user 115 wishes topurchase the additional product. If user 115 wishes to purchase theadditional product, RPDMS 110 identifies a product location of theproduct (product location 160), along with employee locations ofemployees that are working at merchant facility (employee locations125-135). In one embodiment, in order to identify employee locations125-135, each employee may possess a mobile device that transmits GPSinformation to RPDMS 110. In another embodiment, merchant facility 100may utilizes micro transceivers that identify each employee's locationthrough triangulation techniques (send/receive signals to/from employeemobile devices).

RPDMS 110 determines that employee location 130 is in closest proximityto product location 160 and, in turn, selects the corresponding employeeto fulfill the product request. As such, RPDMS 110 sends an electronicmessage to the selected employee's mobile device that includes atransport request. The transport request includes product requestinformation (product name, SKU number, etc.), along with otherinformation (product location and POS device location), that instructsthe selected employee to retrieve the product from product location 160and transport the product to POS device 120. In turn, user 115 receivesthe product and purchases the additional product.

In one embodiment, RPDMS 110 may determine that, due to the selectedemployee's duration at an employee location 130, the selected employeemay be busy assisting another customer. In this embodiment, RPDMS 110may select a different employee to transport the product, such as theemployee corresponding to employee location 135.

In another embodiment, in order to ensure that a given collection ofadditional product purchases does result in a particular employeeunnecessarily traveling back and forth from POS 120 to various productlocations, RPDMS 110 may group transport requests together and send outa single electronic message, thus effectively utilizes employeeresources. In this embodiment, a grouping algorithm may also include adelay to allow for multiple items to be requested simultaneously ratherthan via separate requests that might possibly end up coming from thesame area of the store (see FIGS. 2A, 28, and corresponding text forfurther details).

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing an employee transporting multiple productsto POS devices based upon the employee's location relative to the POSdevices (transport direction). In one embodiment, a RPDMS (RPDMS 110shown in FIG. 1) groups product requests based upon a delivery directionfrom employee location 220 to POS devices 210. The example shown in FIG.2A shows that after receiving an electronic message that includesmultiple transport requests, the employee corresponding to employeelocation 220 retrieves and transports products 230-245 to POS devices210. In this embodiment, the electronic message may organize thetransport requests according to product locations, thus minimizingbacktracking (see FIGS. 3C, 5, and corresponding text for furtherdetails). In another embodiment when the RPDMS combines product requestsfrom different POS devices 210, the RPDMS may instruct the employee totransport some products to one POS device, and transport other productsto a different POS device.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an employee transporting multiple productsto POS devices based upon a retrieval perimeter that corresponds to theemployee's location. In one embodiment, the RPDMS identifies employeelocation 250 and groups products according to retrieval perimeter 255,which is an area corresponding to employee location 250. The exampleshown in FIG. 28 shows that the employee corresponding to employeelocation 250 receives an electronic message to transport products260-270 to POS devices 210. In one embodiment, the employee isinstructed to retrieve products 230-250 in a particular order, thusminimizing backtracking

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a customer facing display that displays aninquiry to a customer (user) regarding an additional product topurchase. A POS device identifies an additional product that a customermay wish to purchase based upon a product the customer purchased(scanned). The POS device queries the customer via customer facingdisplay 300 as to whether the customer wishes to purchase the additionalproduct (e.g., self-checkout screen). FIG. 3A shows that the customerhas the option of selecting premium batteries, standard batteries, orchoose not to purchase batteries.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing a customer facing display that displays aninquiry to a customer (user), along with an estimate delivery time,regarding an additional product to purchase. FIG. 38 is similar to FIG.3A with the exception that FIG. 38 includes estimate delivery time 330.In one embodiment, the POS device (or a real-time delivery managementsystem) computes an estimate delivery time in order for the customermake an informed decision as to whether the customer wishes to purchasethe additional product. For example, a customer may be at the beginningstages of purchasing a large amount of products and the estimatedelivery time for an additional product is 2 minutes. In this example,the customer may choose to purchase the additional product since theadditional product purchase would not delay the customer's overallcheckout time.

FIG. 3C is a diagram showing an employee's mobile device display thatdisplays transport requests for the employee to fulfill. In oneembodiment, an employee possesses a mobile device that receiveselectronic messages for fulfilling one or more transport requests.Employee display device 340 shows transport requests 350 and 360, eachcorresponding to a particular product request. Each of transportrequests 350 and 360 includes a product identifier (product name/SKUnumber), a product location (Isle, shelf, etc.), and a POS devicelocation (checkout station number). In one embodiment, the electronicmessage and, in turn, employee display device 340, organizes thetransport requests based upon a most efficient retrieval process for theemployee, thus minimizing backtracking

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing steps taken in identifying an additionalsale opportunity and, once confirmed, sending an electronic message toan employee to retrieve the identified product and deliver the productto a point-of-sale device. Processing commences at 400, whereupon apoint-of-sale (POS) device scans one of products 415 from user 435 atstep 410. A determination is made as to whether an additional productcorresponds to the scanned product (e.g., cross sale or up saleopportunity) (decision 420). For example, a toy that is scanned mayrequire four AAA batteries and, in this example, the POS deviceidentifies the four AAA batteries as an additional product that thecustomer may wish to purchase. In one embodiment, the POS device (orRPDMS) may access a database that cross-references products to identifyadditional sale opportunities.

If an additional product is not identified, decision 420 branches to“No” branch 422, which bypasses additional productpurchasing/transporting steps. On the other hand, if an additionalproduct is identified, decision 420 branches to “Yes” branch 428,whereupon the POS device provides an additional product option to user435, which informs user 435 that the recently scanned item has acorresponding additional product that the customer may be interested inpurchasing. In one embodiment, processing computes an estimate deliverytime that the product will be delivered to the POS device. In thisembodiment, user 435 makes an informed decision as to whether topurchase the additional product.

A determination is made as to whether user 435 wishes to purchase theadditional product (decision 440). If user 435 does not wish to purchasethe additional product, decision 440 branches to “No” branch 442,bypassing steps to add a product request to a transport queue. On theother hand, if user 435 wishes to purchase the additional product,decision 440 branches to “Yes” branch 448, whereupon processing adds aproduct request to queue 458 at step 450. In one embodiment, the productrequest includes one or more product identifiers such as a name and/or aSKU number. In another embodiment, the product is automatically chargedto user 435's user in so user 435 does not have to wait until theproduct arrives before checking out.

In one embodiment, the product request may be immediately processed,which includes sending an electronic message to one of employees 490 toretrieve and transport the corresponding product. In another embodiment,product requests may be grouped according to a particular transportgrouping option in order to increase employee efficiency (see FIG. 5 andcorresponding text for further details).

At step 455, processing adds a product retrieval entry to queue 458 thatincludes a product identifier (e.g., name, sku number, etc.), a productlocation, an employee identifier, and an employee location. In turn, thePOS device, or a product delivery management system, sends an electronicmessage to the identified employee to transport the product to the POSdevice (see FIG. 6 and corresponding text for further details). In oneembodiment, processing tracks product transport times in order toanalyze employee performance and/or grouping parameters (see FIG. 7 andcorresponding text for further details). Queue 458 may be stored on avolatile or nonvolatile storage area, such as computer memory or acomputer hard drive.

A determination is made as to whether user 435 has finished scanningproducts and is ready to checkout (decision 460). If user 435 has moreproducts to purchase, decision 460 branches to “Yes” branch 462, whichloops back to scan another product. This looping continues until user435 wishes to checkout, at which point decision 460 branches to “No”branch 468. At step 470, processing completes the checkout processes(accepting credit card information, printing receipt, etc.) and ends at480.

In one embodiment, such as at a large merchant facility with multiplePOS devices (e.g., checkout stations), steps shown in FIG. 4 may beperformed by a combination of the POS devices and the RPDMS. In anotherembodiment, such as at a small drug store, steps shown in FIG. 4 may beperformed by the POS device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing steps taken in including transportrequests into electronic messages and sending the electronic messages toemployees to transport the additional product to one or more POSdevices. Product transport fulfillment commences at 500, whereupon adetermination is made as to whether a transport grouping is selected togroup product requests into an electronic message (decision 505). If atransport grouping option is not selected, decision 505 branches to “No”branch 505, whereupon processing retrieves a product request from aqueue (queue 458 in FIG. 4) and identifies a product location of thecorresponding product (step 510). In one embodiment, an RPDMS mayutilize a lookup table that maps product identifiers (e.g., SKU number,product name, etc.) to geographic coordinates (GPS location, etc.).

At step 515, processing identifies employee locations in proximity tothe product location and, at step 520, processing identifies a closestavailable employee. Processing may identify the closest availableemployee, for example, based upon the amount of stationary time that theemployee is at a single location, or an “unavailable” signal transmittedfrom the employee's mobile device that was activated by the employee.

Processing includes a transport request corresponding to the product andthe identified employee in an electronic message, and transmits theelectronic message to one of employees 490 (step 530). Processing endsat 530. As those skilled in the art can appreciate, processing mayrepeat steps 510-525 as long as product requests exist in the queue.

Referring back to decision 505, if a transport grouping option isselected, decision 505 branches to “Yes” branch 509, whereuponprocessing retrieves product requests from the queue, and identifiesproduct locations for each of the corresponding products. At step 540,processing identifies employee locations of the employees within amerchant facility. In one embodiment, processing identifies employeelocations of employees that are available to transport products.

A determination is made as to whether a retrieval perimeter groupingoption or a transport direction grouping option is configured (decision545). For example, a merchant may configure an RPDMS to group transportrequests according to a retrieval perimeter for certain areas of themerchant facility (e.g., frozen food section), and configure the RPDMSto group transport requests according to a transport direction for otherareas of the merchant facility (see FIGS. 2A, 28, and corresponding textfor further details).

If the retrieval perimeter grouping option is configured, decision 545branches to “Perimeter” branch 547, whereupon processing computesretrieval perimeters corresponding to each employee location at step 550(e.g., by isles). At step 560, processing groups product requestsaccording to product locations and retrieval perimeters, such asproducts A, B, C in isle 4 are grouped with an employee whose retrievalperimeter includes isle 4.

Processing generates transport requests (includes product identifier,product location, etc.) into electronic messages according to thegroupings from step 560, and sends the electronic messages to employees490 to retrieve and transport the additional products corresponding tothe product requests to various POS devices (step 475). In oneembodiment, the transport requests are organized in a manner to minimizeemployee backtracking as discussed herein.

On the other hand, if the transport direction grouping option isconfigured, decision 545 branches to “Transport Direction” branch 549,whereupon processing computes transport directions corresponding to eachemployee location relative to POS device locations at step 550. At step560, processing groups product requests according to product locationsand transport directions. For example, an employee's transport directionmay be across the front of the store and, in this example, processinggroups products with the transport direction whose product locations areat the front of the store.

Processing generates transport requests (includes product identifier,product location, etc.) into electronic messages according to thegroupings from step 570, and sends the electronic messages to employees490 to retrieve and transport the additional products corresponding tothe product requests to various POS devices (step 575). Processing endsat 580.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing steps taken in estimating a delivery timefor an employee to transport a product from a corresponding productlocation to a POS device. Processing commences at 600, whereuponprocessing identifies a product location at step 610 corresponding to anadditional product that a customer wishes to purchase (e.g., isle 4, 4thshelf, midsection). At step 615, processing identifies employeelocations within the merchant facility. For example, each employee mayhave a mobile device that transmits GPS information to a productdelivery management system. In another example, the merchant facilitymay have micro transceivers that identify each employee's locationthrough triangulation (send/receive signals to/from employee mobiledevices).

Processing, at step 620, identifies the closest available employee basedupon the employee locations and the product location. In one embodiment,processing identifies which employees are available based upon theamount of stationary time that the employee is at a single location, oran “unavailable” signal transmitted from the employee's mobile device asdiscussed herein.

A determination is made as to whether a grouping selection is enabled togroup product transport requests into a single electronic message(decision 630). In one embodiment, a merchant may wish to send anelectronic message to an employee to transport five products todifferent POS devices instead of sending five different messages to fivedifferent employees. In this embodiment, the merchant may select aparticular grouping option, which instructions the POS device (or RPDMS)to group product transport requests (see FIGS. 2A, 28, and correspondingtext for further details).

If grouping selection is enabled, decision 630 branches to “Yes” branch638, whereupon processing computes an estimate delivery time based uponthe identified employee and the products that the employee is currentlyscheduled to transport (decision 640). On the other hand, if thegrouping selection is not enabled, decision 640 branches to “No” branch632, whereupon processing computes an estimate delivery time based uponthe employee location, the product location, and the POS device location(step 635).

At step 650, processing provides the estimate delivery time to thecustomer, which assists the customer in deciding whether to purchase theadditional product (see FIG. 38 and corresponding text for furtherdetails). Processing ends at 660.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken in generating and analyzingproduct transport metrics. The product transport metrics may, in oneembodiment, enables a merchant to track employee efficiency and/ormonitor the effectiveness of the merchant's product transport groupingtechniques.

Processing commences at 700, whereupon processing logs an additionalproduct's request time (e.g., from POS device 715), transport requesttime (e.g., from RPDMS 110), and an employee that is identified totransport the product. At step 720, processing detects that theadditional product is scanned at POS device 715 and, at step 730,processing computes an actual delivery time. In one embodiment,processing computes the actual delivery time based upon the transportrequest time and the scanned time, which indicates the amount of timethat the employee took to transport the product once the electronicmessage was sent to the employee. In another embodiment, processingcomputes the actual delivery time based upon the product request timeand the scanned time, which indicates the amount of time that a customer(user) waited to scan the additional product once the customer requestedthe additional product.

At step 740, processing stores a delivery entry in metrics store 745,which may include information such as a product identifier, an employeeidentifier, one or more computed actual delivery times (as discussedabove), an employee location, a product location, and whether atransport grouping option was enabled for the transport request.

A determination is made as to whether to continue tracking additionalproduct transport times (decision 750). If processing should continuetracking additional product transport times, decision 750 branches to“Yes” branch 752, which loops back to continue logging additionalproduct information. This looping continues until processing shouldterminate, or the merchant wishes to analyze metric information, atwhich point decision 750 branches to “No” branch 758. At step 760,processing retrieves delivery entries from metrics store 745 and, in oneembodiment, generates report 770. Report 770, for example, may includetransport times sorted by employees, transport grouping options, productlocations, etc. Processing ends at 780.

FIG. 8 illustrates information handling system 800, which is asimplified example of a computer system capable of performing thecomputing operations described herein. Information handling system 800includes one or more processors 810 coupled to processor interface bus812. Processor interface bus 812 connects processors 810 to Northbridge815, which is also known as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Northbridge815 connects to system memory 820 and provides a means for processor(s)810 to access the system memory. Graphics controller 825 also connectsto Northbridge 815. In one embodiment, PCI Express bus 818 connectsNorthbridge 815 to graphics controller 825. Graphics controller 825connects to display device 830, such as a computer monitor.

Northbridge 815 and Southbridge 835 connect to each other using bus 819.In one embodiment, the bus is a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus thattransfers data at high speeds in each direction between Northbridge 815and Southbridge 835. In another embodiment, a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus connects the Northbridge and the Southbridge.Southbridge 835, also known as the 1/0 Controller Hub (ICH) is a chipthat generally implements capabilities that operate at slower speedsthan the capabilities provided by the Northbridge. Southbridge 835typically provides various busses used to connect various components.These busses include, for example, PCI and PCI Express busses, an ISAbus, a System Management Bus (SMBus or 5 MB), and/or a Low Pin Count(LPC) bus. The LPC bus often connects low-bandwidth devices, such asboot ROM 896 and “legacy” 1/0 devices (using a “super 1/0” chip). The“legacy” 1/0 devices (898) can include, for example, serial and parallelports, keyboard, mouse, and/or a floppy disk controller. The LPC busalso connects Southbridge 835 to Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 895.Other components often included in Southbridge 835 include a DirectMemory Access (DMA) controller, a Programmable Interrupt Controller(PIC), and a storage device controller, which connects Southbridge 835to nonvolatile storage device 885, such as a hard disk drive, using bus884.

ExpressCard 855 is a slot that connects hot-pluggable devices to theinformation handling system. ExpressCard 855 supports both PCI Expressand USB connectivity as it connects to Southbridge 835 using both theUniversal Serial Bus (USB) the PCI Express bus. Southbridge 835 includesUSB Controller 840 that provides USB connectivity to devices thatconnect to the USB. These devices include webcam (camera) 850, infrared(IR) receiver 848, keyboard and trackpad 844, and Bluetooth device 846,which provides for wireless personal area networks (PANs). USBController 840 also provides USB connectivity to other miscellaneous USBconnected devices 842, such as a mouse, removable nonvolatile storagedevice 845, modems, network cards, ISDN connectors, fax, printers, USBhubs, and many other types of USB connected devices. While removablenonvolatile storage device 845 is shown as a USB-connected device,removable nonvolatile storage device 845 could be connected using adifferent interface, such as a Firewire interface, etcetera.

Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) device 875 connects to Southbridge 835via the PCI or PCI Express bus 872. LAN device 875 typically implementsone of the IEEE 802.11 standards of over-the-air modulation techniquesthat all use the same protocol to wireless communicate betweeninformation handling system 800 and another computer system or device.Optical storage device 890 connects to Southbridge 835 using Serial AT A(SATA) bus 888. Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over ahigh-speed serial link. The Serial ATA bus also connects Southbridge 835to other forms of storage devices, such as hard disk drives. Audiocircuitry 860, such as a sound card, connects to Southbridge 835 via bus858. Audio circuitry 860 also provides functionality such as audioline-in and optical digital audio in port 862, optical digital outputand headphone jack 864, internal speakers 866, and internal microphone868. Ethernet controller 870 connects to Southbridge 835 using a bus,such as the PCI or PCI Express bus. Ethernet controller 870 connectsinformation handling system 800 to a computer network, such as a LocalArea Network (LAN), the Internet, and other public and private computernetworks.

While FIG. 8 shows one information handling system, an informationhandling system may take many forms. For example, an informationhandling system may take the form of a desktop, server, portable,laptop, notebook, or other form factor computer or data processingsystem. In addition, an information handling system may take other formfactors such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, ATMmachine, a portable telephone device, a communication device or otherdevices that include a processor and memory.

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM 895) shown in FIG. 8 and describedherein to provide security functions is but one example of a hardwaresecurity module (HSM). Therefore, the TPM described and claimed hereinincludes any type of HSM including, but not limited to, hardwaresecurity devices that conform to the Trusted Computing Groups (TCG)standard, and entitled “Trusted Platform Module (TPM) SpecificationVersion 1.2.” The TPM is a hardware security subsystem that may beincorporated into any number of information handling systems, such asthose outlined in FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 8 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems that operate in a networked environment. Types of informationhandling systems range from small handheld devices, such as handheldcomputer/mobile telephone 910 to large mainframe systems, such asmainframe computer 970. Examples of handheld computer 910 includepersonal digital assistants (PDAs), personal entertainment devices, suchas MP3 players, portable televisions, and compact disc players. Otherexamples of information handling systems include pen, or tablet,computer 920, laptop, or notebook, computer 930, workstation 940,personal computer system 950, and server 960. Other types of informationhandling systems that are not individually shown in FIG. 9 arerepresented by information handling system 980. As shown, the variousinformation handling systems can be networked together using computernetwork 900. Types of computer network that can be used to interconnectthe various information handling systems include Local Area Networks(LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the Internet, the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), other wireless networks, and anyother network topology that can be used to interconnect the informationhandling systems. Many of the information handling systems includenonvolatile data stores, such as hard drives and/or nonvolatile memory.Some of the information handling systems shown in FIG. 9 depictsseparate nonvolatile data stores (server 960 utilizes nonvolatile datastore 965, mainframe computer 970 utilizes nonvolatile data store 975,and information handling system 980 utilizes nonvolatile data store985). The nonvolatile data store can be a component that is external tothe various information handling systems or can be internal to one ofthe information handling systems. In addition, removable nonvolatilestorage device 845 can be shared among two or more information handlingsystems using various techniques, such as connecting the removablenonvolatile storage device 845 to a USB port or other connector of theinformation handling systems.

While particular embodiments of the present disclosure have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that,based upon the teachings herein, that changes and modifications may bemade without departing from this disclosure and its broader aspects.Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope allsuch changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scopeof this disclosure. Furthermore, it is to be understood that thedisclosure is solely defined by the appended claims. It will beunderstood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim element is intended, such intent will be explicitlyrecited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no suchlimitation is present. For non-limiting example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimelements. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim element by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim element to disclosures containing only one suchelement, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “oneor more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an”;the same holds true for the use in the claims of definite articles.

1. A method for selling products at a merchant facility, whereincustomers generally select products in the merchant facility and bringthe selected products to a point-of-sale (POS) device at the merchantfacility for checkout, the method comprising: during a customer checkoutat a (POS) device at a merchant facility, receiving a product request atthe POS device corresponding to a product, identifying an employeelocation, from a plurality of employee locations, that is in proximityto a product location of the requested product, the employee locationcorresponding to an employee; and sending an electronic message to amobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein the electronicmessage includes a request to transport the product from the productlocation to the POS device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the methodfurther comprises: identifying an initial product at the POS device thatis purchased by a user; determining that the product corresponds to theinitial product; querying the user to indicate whether the user wishesto purchase the product; and in response to receiving the indicationthat the user wishes to purchase the product, generating the productrequest.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: computing anestimated transport time to transport the product from the productlocation to the POS device; and including the estimated transport timein the query to the user.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:receiving a different product request corresponding to a differentproduct that is located at a different product location within themerchant facility; determining that a transport grouping option isselected; and in response to determining that the transport groupingoption is selected, including a different request in the electronicmessage to transport the different product from the different productlocation to the POS device.
 5. The method if claim 4 further comprising:in response to identifying that the transport grouping option is basedupon a retrieval perimeter: computing the retrieval perimeter based uponthe employee location; and determining that the different productlocation resides within the retrieval perimeter; and in response toidentifying that the transport grouping option is based upon a transportdirection: computing the transport direction based upon the employeelocation and a point-of sale device location that corresponds to thepoint-of-sale device; and identifying that the different productlocation is in proximity to the transport direction.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: in response to receiving the productrequest, automatically charging the requested product to a user billprior to receiving the product at the POS device.
 7. The method of claim1 further comprising: identifying an initial employee location, from theplurality of employee locations, that is closer in proximity to thelocation than the employee location; identifying an amount of stationarytime that an initial employee is located at the initial employeelocation; in response to determining the amount of stationary time,determining that the initial employee is unavailable to transport theproduct from the product location to the point-of-sale device; inresponse to determining that the initial employee is unavailable,determining that the employee is available to transport the product fromthe product location to the to the point-of-sale device; and in responseto determining that the employee is available, sending the electronicmessage to the mobile device corresponding to the employee.
 8. Aninformation handling system comprising: one or more processors; a memorycoupled to at least one of the processors; a set of computer programinstructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of theprocessors in order to perform actions of: during a customer checkout ata point-of-sale (POS) device at a merchant facility, receiving a productrequest at the POS device corresponding to a product, wherein customersgenerally select products in the merchant facility and bring theselected products to a POS device at the merchant facility for checkout;identifying an employee location, from a plurality of employeelocations, that is in proximity to a product location of the requestedproduct, the employee location corresponding to an employee; and sendingan electronic message to a mobile device that corresponds to theemployee, wherein the electronic message includes a request to transportthe product from the product location to the POS device.
 9. Theinformation handling system of claim 8, wherein the processors performadditional actions comprising: identifying an initial product at the POSdevice that is purchased by a user; determining that the productcorresponds to the initial product; querying the user to indicatewhether the user wishes to purchase the product; and in response toreceiving the indication that the user wishes to purchase the product,generating the product request.
 10. The information handling system ofclaim 9 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:computing an estimated transport time to transport the product from theproduct location to the POS device; and including the estimatedtransport time in the query to the user.
 11. The information handlingsystem of claim 8 wherein the processors perform additional actionscomprising: receiving a different product request corresponding to adifferent product that is located at a different product location withinthe merchant facility; determining that a transport grouping option isselected; and in response to determining that the transport groupingoption is selected, including a different request in the electronicmessage to transport the different product from the different productlocation to the POS device.
 12. The information handling system of claim11 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising: inresponse to identifying that the transport grouping option is based upona retrieval perimeter: computing the retrieval perimeter based upon theemployee location; and determining that the different product locationresides within the retrieval perimeter; and in response to identifyingthat the transport grouping option is based upon a transport direction:computing the transport direction based upon the employee location and apoint-of sale device location that corresponds to the point-of-saledevice; and identifying that the different product location is inproximity to the transport direction.
 13. The information handlingsystem of claim 8 wherein the processors perform additional actionscomprising: in response to receiving the product request, automaticallycharging the requested product to a user bill prior to receiving theproduct at the POS device.
 14. The information handling system of claim8 wherein the processors perform additional actions comprising:identifying an initial employee location, from the plurality of employeelocations, that is closer in proximity to the product location than theemployee location; identifying an amount of stationary time that aninitial employee is located at the initial employee location; inresponse to determining the amount of stationary time, determining thatthe initial employee is unavailable to transport the product from theproduct location to the point-of-sale device; in response to determiningthat the initial employee is unavailable, determining that the employeeis available to transport the product from the product location to theto the point-of-sale device; and in response to determining that theemployee is available, sending the electronic message to the mobiledevice corresponding to the employee.
 15. A computer program productstored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprisingcomputer program code that, when executed by an information handlingsystem, causes the information handling system to perform actionscomprising: during a customer checkout at a point-of-sale (POS) deviceat a merchant facility, receiving a product request at the POS devicecorresponding to a product, wherein the product request corresponds to apoint-of-sale (POS) device located at a merchant facility; identifyingan employee location, from a plurality of employee locations, that is inproximity to a product location of the requested product, the employeelocation corresponding to an employee; and sending an electronic messageto a mobile device that corresponds to the employee, wherein theelectronic message includes a request to transport the product from theproduct location to the POS device.
 16. The computer program product ofclaim 15, wherein the information handling system performs furtheractions comprising: identifying an initial product at the POS devicethat is purchased by a user; determining that the product corresponds tothe initial product; querying the user to indicate whether the userwishes to purchase the product; and in response to receiving theindication that the user wishes to purchase the product, generating theproduct request.
 17. The computer program product of claim 16 whereinthe information handling system performs further actions comprising:computing an estimated transport time to transport the product from theproduct location to the POS device; and including the estimatedtransport time in the query to the user.
 18. The computer programproduct of claim 15 wherein the information handling system performsfurther actions comprising: receiving a different product requestcorresponding to a different product that is located at a differentproduct location within the merchant facility; determining that atransport grouping option is selected; and in response to determiningthat the transport grouping option is selected, including a differentrequest in the electronic message to transport the different productfrom the different product location to the POS device.
 19. The computerprogram product of claim 18 wherein the information handling systemperforms further actions comprising: in response to identifying that thetransport grouping option is based upon a retrieval perimeter: computingthe retrieval perimeter based upon the employee location; anddetermining that the different product location resides within theretrieval perimeter; and in response to identifying that the transportgrouping option is based upon a transport direction: computing thetransport direction based upon the employee location and a point-of saledevice location that corresponds to the point-of-sale device; andidentifying that the different product location is in proximity to thetransport direction.
 20. The computer program product of claim 15wherein the information handling system performs further actionscomprising: identifying an initial employee location, from the pluralityof employee locations, that is closer in proximity to the productlocation than the employee location; identifying an amount of stationarytime that an initial employee is located at the initial employeelocation; in response to determining the amount of stationary time,determining that the initial employee is unavailable to transport theproduct from the product location to the point-of-sale device; inresponse to determining that the initial employee is unavailable,determining that the employee is available to transport the product fromthe product location to the to the point-of-sale device; and in responseto determining that the employee is available, sending the electronicmessage to the mobile device corresponding to the employee.